Canadian businesses with gross revenue under $30,000 in any rolling four quarters are considered “small suppliers” and are not required to register for GST/HST. Once you exceed the threshold, you have 29 days from the crossing date to register.
Voluntary registration
You can register voluntarily below the threshold. This makes sense if:
- You incur significant GST/HST on business expenses (Input Tax Credits recover this)
- Your customers are GST-registered and can recover the tax themselves
- You want to signal legitimacy to business clients
Voluntary registration becomes problematic if you sell to consumers who can’t recover the tax.